


' # a 



u ; 



/~ 



% 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 



•*++++* +++++**— i 



REPORT 



OF THE 



BOARD OF EDUCATION 



OF THE 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



ON 



PAROCfcMAL SCHOOLS 



*w//#////w~ 



PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, MAY i847. 



K^ 



£, 



Ti - 



I 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction 1. The common-school system grew up under circumstances 

different from those now existing 3 

2. The increasing tendency to abandon the State plan 4 

3. Religious schools remind us of our good old ways 4 

I. Connexion between parochial schools and common elementary education. 5 

1. The cause of education will be advanced by the influence of parochial 

schools on teachers , 5 

2. By the principles and stability of the government of parochial schools. 6 

3. By the system of instruction 6 

4. By the su pervision of parochial schools 7 

5. By extending the advantages of education to greater numbers 8 

II. Connexion between parochial schools and religion 9 

1. Youth is the forming season of life 9 

2. The influence of a day-school too great to be lost to religion 10 

3. The doctrines of grace must be taught 11 

4. Parental and pastoral fidelity will be stimulated 12 

5. Conversions to God most numerous in the class of youth religiously 

educated , 12 

III. Connexion between parochial schools and ministerial training 13 

1. Our future ministers would be better educated under the Church plan. 14 

2. The number of ministers would be increased 14 

3. The Church system a security against failures 15 

4. And in all respects more satisfactory 15 

IV. Connexion between parochial schools and the prosperity of the 

Presbvterian Church 16 

All that has been said proves this connexion. 16 

The reflex influence of a good cause 16 

Increased power for good in the Church, where Christian education is 

attended to 17 

The instruction in our Church history, given in parochial schools, would 

exert a beneficial influence over the minds of our youth 17 

Our youth would be more firmly attached to their Church, and be less 

often led astray 18 

Recommendations to the General Assembly 19 

1. Their sanction of a system of Christian education by means of pri- 

mary Church schools and Presbyterial academies 20 

Practical suggestions on a few points, salaries, teachers, &c. . . 20 

2. The discussion of the subject in Presbyteries and Synods 25 

3. The procuring of statistical information 25 

4. The timely preparation of suitable school books 25 

5. The granting of aid to feeble churches by a school extension fund to 

be managed by the Board of Education 25 

Appendix. — Officers of the Board, notices, &c 2 

Action of the General Assembly 27 

Action of the Board of Education 28 

Remarks on the Rules* • • • 29 

Circular to ministers and elders 30 

Circular to Presbyteries 31 

Sustain the School-extension enterprise ! 32 



REPORT 



OF THE 



BOARD OF EDUCATION 



OF THE 



y 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



3n tlje Hniteb States of America 



ON 



PAKOCHIAL SCHOOLS. 



PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, MAY 1847. 



'Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it." 
' Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." 
Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 




PHILADELPHIA 
PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

WILLIAM S. MARTIEN, PRINTER. 

1847. 






7 



OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Alexander Henry, President. ft "n^O 

Mntfhpw T. Rpyan, ~) l_»^^ 

I, D.D. I Vice-Presidents. A 

>rd, Esq. j ./»* 



Matthew L. Bevan, 

John McDowell 

Thomas Bradford 

C. Van Rensselaer, D.D., Corresponding Secretary. I 9 4**1 

Wm. Chester, D.D., Asso. Secretary and General Agent. 

W. M. Atkinson, D.D., Agent for the South and South-West. r*d\ 



R. Soutter, Jr., 'Recording Secretary. 
Joseph B. Mitchell, Treasurer. 
Frederick V. Krug, ) A ,., 
James N. Dicksonf \ AudUors - 

The Board meet on the first Thursday of every month, at 4 o'clock, P. M. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

Matthew L. Bevan, Chairman. James N. Dickson, 

Joseph H. Jones, D.D. Matthew Newkirk, 

Alexander Macklin, James Dunlap, 

A. Tudehope, Thomas Bradford, Esq. 

William Chester, D.D. R. Soutter, Jr. 

C. Van Rensselaer, D.D., ex off. Alexander Symington, 

J. B. Mitchell, ex off. 

The Executive Committee meet every Thursday, at 3-| o'clock, P. M. 



Letters and Communications for the BOARD OF EDUCATION on the 
subject of Parochial Schools, and remittances of money by mail for the 
support of teachers in feeble schools and academies, may be addressed to the 
Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D. D., Corresponding Secretary, No. 25 Sansom 
Street, Philadelphia. 



Addresses or Sermons on the subject of Education ; Reports of State 
superintendents, of committees or of trustees of schoels, academies, and col- 
leges ; Catalogues of literary, scientific, or theological institutions; or any 
Documents bearing on this general subject, will be thankfully received at the 
Education Rooms of the Presbyterian Church, No. 25 Sansom Street, Phila- 
delphia. A suitable acknowledgment will be made, as far as possible, of all 
such favours. 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 



The General. Assembly of 1846 referred the subject of parochial 
schools to the " Board of Education" by the following resolution : 

Resolved, That the whole subject be referred to the Board of Education; that they may 
from time to time report to the General Assembly any further action which may be needed 
for extending through our churches a system of parochial schools. 

The object of the Assembly was to secure the oversight of this 
important matter, during the interval of their meeting, in some body 
responsible to their authority, in order that definite action might be 
recommended to the consideration of the succeeding Assembly. Be- 
fore proceeding to suggest the action which appears suited to the 
present position of the Presbyterian Church, the Board feel called 
upon to attempt to illustrate in their first Report some of the princi- 
ples involved in this great and important subject. 

Religious instruction at home — which is the basis of all good train- 
ing — can never render unnecessary or unimportant, religious instruc- 
tion in schools. The constitution of society demands some system 
of public education. It is therefore an inquiry of great interest 
whether that system shall be under the direction of the Church or of 
the State. The range of discussion would be comparatively limited, 
on either of two suppositions. If in the first place there existed 
between the Church and' the State a cordial and harmonious union, 
unbroken by sectarian divisions, public education night be conducted 
on religious principles without much hazard from political interrup- 
tion. Or if in the second place an education had reference merely to 
the intellectual powers, the general supervision of the work might for 
special reasons be surrendered to the Government without serious 
disadvantage. Neither of these suppositions, however, can be ad- 
mitted as elements in the solution of the present problem. In our 
country, the State repudiates with increasing jealousy all connexion 
with the Church; whilst the latter is evidently becoming more and 
more impressed with the necessity of acting upon the principle that 
religious as well as intellectual training is one of the primary aims 
of Christian education. 

The common school system, which is now so popular in some 
quarters, grew up in New England under circumstances very differ 
ent from those which now exist. It had its origin at a period when 
there was a strong affinity between the Church and the State, and 
.when the people were almost unanimously of one religious creed. 
Then religion was extensively taught in those schools. The system 
of the Pilgrims was essentially a parochial system. The Bible and 



4 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

the Shorter Catechism were common-school books; and they are 
still so used in many parts of New England, although not generally 
in the thorough manner of the olden time. Within the last thirty or 
forty years, however, the growth of other churches and of congre- 
gations of errorists has conspired with other causes to banish more 
or less extensively the essential doctrines of Christianity from the 
schools of New England. The same general history characterizes 
to a considerable degree the public institutions of New York. Other 
States have more recently and at different intervals organized a sys- 
tem of public education on principles of state policy, equally latitu- 
dinarian and hostile to true religion. The general tendency of things 
in this country is unquestionably to dishonour the religious element 
in the system of education under the patronage of the State. This 
sufficiently accounts for the growing dissatisfaction of Christians, in 
all parts of the country, with the whole plan of political supervision. 
A general system of education that shall be a Christian system 
appears to be a State impracticability. 

The increasing abandonment of the State plan by various sects 
of Christians affords a proper occasion for the Presbyterian Church 
to re-consider her position in regard to the work of Education. The 
Papists with that church-worldly wisdom which is so pre eminently 
theirs, have adopted the plan of educating their own children — and 
ours too, as far as they can. Their institutions of learning have all 
the efficiency of an independent religious organization. Papal col- 
leges, seminaries, and Church schools of every kind are in active 
operation all over the country and especially at the west. If we 
would save the lambs of our flock from the St. Mary Christianity of 
the Man of Sin, our schools must engage our efforts and our prayers. 
The Episcopalians, with characteristic zeal, are also establishing large 
and small institutions on a denominational basis. Many of their 
churches have parochial schools, while Presbyterians scarcely know 
the meaning of the word. The Methodists, in addition to several 
denominational colleges, have academies in all their Conferences, and 
are in this respect setting an example of well-manned, popular Church 
institutions. Whilst other denominations are more and more de- 
fining their position in favour of Christian education under their own 
supervision, Presbyterians are reminded of their obligations to de- 
velope the resources of their own Church in this great cause. 

Our denomination, in re-modelling its school system on the pro- 
posed basis, would be only returning to the good old ways of its 
former history. Presbyterian schools, in other times, were religious 
schools. Religion was much more extensively taught in them than 
it now is even in what are called " select schools. 1 ' The education of 
the country was once in a great degree under our own care; or at 
least we had the care of our own children. But the encroachments 
of a false liberality have so far banished Presbyterian and evangeli- 
cal influence, that the education of our children is now mixed up 
with the politics of the State and knows nothing of the religion of 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 5 

the Church. It has become so fashionable to be liberal that even 
" select schools" often dispense with evangelical truth in order to 
please all Christian denominations! It is high time for the Presby- 
terian Church to fall back upon her glorious old landmarks; and 
what we cannot now do for all, we must endeavour to do for our- 
selves in the matter of thorough Christian education. 

But what is meant by a parochial school? The term is imported 
from abroad ; and ought to have come in duty-free, instead of being 
subjected to the heavy State tax which now almost amounts to pro- 
hibition. The idea of a parochial* or primary Church school would 
with us embrace in general the following particulars: 

1. A school under the care of the Session of a Church; 2. Designed 
for children, say from five to ten or twelve years of age; 3. In which 
the usual branches of a sound elementary education are taught; 
4. With the addition of daily religious instruction from the 
Bible; 5. Under the superintendence of a Christian teacher. The 
probability is that most of the teachers would be females, especially 
in the country schools. 

In addition to these primary schools, others of a higher order 
might be needed to supply the wants of some congregations. The 
completion of the system would demand academies under the care 
of Presbyteries, and colleges under the care of one or more Synods. 

Having made these preliminary observations, the Board will pro- 
ceed to point out the importance of this system of education in 
various aspects. 

I. COMMON ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. 

It is proposed in the first place to exhibit the connexion between 

PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS AND COMMON ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. 

1. The system of Church schools would operate in favour of sound 
education by its influence on teachers. To obtain well-qualified 
teachers in sufficient numbers is the great difficulty of any system of 
common-school instruction. One of the great advantages of the 
Church system is, that it will dignify the calling and raise the quali- 
fications of teachers as well as, in all probability, increase their num- 
ber. The office of teacher has lost much of its high honour by hav- 
ing been divested of its religious functions by State schools. The 
elevating inspirations of religion have ceased to a large extent to 
exert their appropriate power; and this great vocation — second only 
to that of pastor in the wide range of usefulness— has been left too 
much to the stimulus of merely worldly motives. If restored by the 
command of the Church to its native elevation as a religious office, 
there is every reason to believe that our churches would soon supply 
competent teachers for our schools. At first, some difficulty might 

* The term M parochial" has no proper use in this country. It occurs in the present 
Report, simply because popular usage has so far sanctioned it of late, as to connect it with 
the system under discussion. 



6 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

be experienced, but probably less than our fears. There are pious 
females in many of our congregations who would be willing to com- 
mence at once, under the sanction of Church authority. An immense 
amount of available capacity is now lying dormant and undeveloped 
in Zion. Our Church members, under the influence of religious 
motives, would undertake what otherwise would never enter their 
thoughts. There is a principle of political economy which has ap- 
plication in the affairs of the Church, and that is that the supply 
will always equal the demand. Let the Church by the system of 
education she shall adopt, create a demand for religious teachers, 
and the Providence and grace of God will furnish the supply. 

Teachers as a class — for there are always illustrious exceptions — 
will never be what they ought to be in character and influence, and 
what they might be in numbers, until Church education shall purify 
the vocation with its holy tendencies and aims. 

2. Parochial schools will advance sound education by the princi- 
ples and stability of their government. A day-school, like a com- 
munity, cannot be effectually governed without the principles of the 
Bible. The motives and sanctions of religion have a healthful and 
necessary influence in the government of boys and schools, as well 
as of men and States. Parochial schools, by taking the word of God 
for their guide, would occupy pre-eminently the vantage ground 
over the more worldly discipline of State institutions. There is 
moreover a tendency in the public mind to errors on the subject of 
education, such as the banishment of the rod as a " barbarity," the 
frequent change of teachers and books, and other ultraisms and evils 
which Old-school Presbyterianism would effectually check within its 
lawful and awful range. Without discussing this point any further, 
it is believed that the cause of education would be greatly advanced 
by the better principles and surer stability in the government of 
Church schools. 

3. The system of instruction taught in parochial schools will pro- 
mote the cause of sound education. The text-books, as far as mere in- 
tellectual training is concerned, would beat least as good in all respects 
as those now in use. And they would be better in consequence of 
the introduction of the religious element. A great deal of the mental 
training of young children can be done by religious exercises. Pro- 
bably our Board of Publication would present another evidence of 
its vast utility to the Church by supplying some deficiencies in the 
department of elementary school-books. It is certain that works of 
no inferior merit or doubtful character would be admitted by our 
Church judicatories. In addition to the use of the best text books 
on every topic of human learning, the Bible, which is " the boys' 
and girls' own book" would have a prominent place in the daily 
instructions of the school. Instead of being merely read by the 
teacher for a few minutes as if to preserve the external appearance 
of some remaining Christianity, it would be studied by the scholars. 
Its verses would be committed to memory; its history thoroughly 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 7 

understood; and its great principles brought into prominent view. 
The influence of the study of the Bible on the mind, as well as on 
the heart, can never be too highly appreciated. It is a book of the 
most stirring thoughts, and kindling revelations, and wakeful memo- 
ries. Creation, History, Geography, Providence, Biography, Re- 
demption, Immortality, embrace its wonders of fact, doctrine and 
duty, which children love to read, and cannot read without thought, 
and inquiry. The Bible is the very best text book the world affords 
for the mental developments of a daily school. A distinguished 
writer says: " we shall dwarf the intellect and the conscience of our 
children, if we let uninspired men take hold upon their youthful ima- 
gination before patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs have won 
their youthful hearts. A better man than Abraham, even could 
you find one, would not be so sublime to your boys as the < friend 
of God,' the companion of angels, and the father of Isaac. A wiser 
man than Daniel, even could you find one, would be no Belteshazzar 
to your sons and daughters, unless he had been in the lion's den at 
Babylon. It is God's men who make boys feel what a man should 
be." " Tell them by all means every thing worth knowing they can 
bear to hear; but be sure of this that you can interest them in no- 
thing so much as * * * in the Bible. You can make them talkers 
by the little things of simplified science; but you can best make them 
thinkers by the great things of revelation." 

4. The supervision of parochial schools guarantees their promo- 
tion of the general interests of education. The direction of our 
schools would be religious instead of political, under the Church 
instead of the State. And this is the true plan. Religion and Edu- 
cation are natural allies. The guardians of Christianity are ex officio 
the guardians of education. From the time of the Reformation, 
Presbyterian ministers have been foremost in prosecuting the great 
work of public instruction. The following is the testimony of the 
historian, Bancroft, now representing our country abroad: "We 
boast of our common schools. Calvin was the father of popular 
education, the inventor of the system of free schools." Calvin and 
Knox and the other great men of that illustrious day laid the founda- 
tion of a public system of religious education. To a greater or less 
extent, such a system prevailed in Switzerland, Scotland, France, 
Holland, and wherever the Reformation wrought its mighty changes. 
The earlier history of this country also illustrates the natural de- 
pendence of education upon religion. The schools and colleges of 
New England are the memorials of the Pilgrim fathers — too much 
now alas ! like their very grave-stones to remind us of the piety that 
once was. Our own Presbyterian institutions are indissolubly con- 
nected with the names of the Tennents, Blair, Davies, Finley, Gra- 
ham, Witherspoon, and the Smiths. The ministers, elders and mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church are the very men, in the Providence 
of God, to manage the education of their own children. Their 
ancient history proves it; and it is time for them to re-introduce the 



8 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

principles of thorough Christian education in their own schools as 
well as in their families and their churches. 

5. The cause of education would be advanced through parochial 
schools by extending its advantages to greater numbers. In a 
few States, it is admitted that education is well nigh universal; but 
in the vast majority of the States, where the Presbyterian Church is 
located, it is comparatively limited. There cannot be a doubt, we 
think, that if every Presbyterian church had a school, the number 
of educated Presbyterian children would be vastly increased. And 
so of every other denomination. The cause of education is itself 
popular # in this country; and if left to the churches, the same zeal 
which collects congregations in the new settlements would plant the 
school-house by the side of the meeting-house. In the present pos- 
ture of affairs, the Church has almost lost her knowledge of the art, 
as well as of the duty, of education. She has been so little used to 
this service of late, that, like the warrior whose rusty sword clings 
to the scabbard, she can scarcely equip herself befittingly in her 
ancient and terrible armour. 

The education that already exists in this country is in fact in- 
debted, with few exceptions, to the religious principle of the com- 
munity more than to any other cause. Yet this principle is checked 
and restrained, and circumvented in every possible way by the gene- 
rality of State institutions. Now we maintain that if the religious 
principle had free scope on the subject of education, had the re- 
sponsibility of training the mind as well as the heart, it would adapt 
its resources to this great work with a zeal and power that would 
advance simultaneously religion and education. 

In addition to the increased number of scholars in parochial or 
primary schools, there would be an increased number in academies 
and colleges, to which institutions many talented and promising 
youth are now not encouraged to aspire, simply because the Church 
knows little and cares little for her children. On the proposed plan, 
all the youth would be brought into close contact with the officers 
of the Church. Our ministers and elders would see that promising 
young men were sent up to Presbyterial academies and to colleges, 
to unfold their mental worth for the use of the Church and of the 
State. The want of means to obtain a higher education would be 
no impediment; for they would be gratuitously and gratefully fur- 
nished. If the Presbyterian Church had a complete system of 
Christian education consisting of schools," academies, and colleges, 
under the care of Sessions, Presbyteries, and Synods, it is believed 
that more of her youth would be educated, that they would be more 
thoroughly educated, and educated on a higher scale, than on the 
present plan of State dependency. 

The Board have been the more particular in illustrating the 
influence of parochial schools on sound intellectual education, on 
account of the misapprehension sometimes entertained in regard to 
the true aim of the parochial system. Whilst the State plan educates 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 



the mind without educating the heart, the plan under consideration 
does not fall into the opposite extreme, but aims at educating the 
mind and the heart, the soul with all its powers. 



II. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

Let u's now turn to consider the connexion between the paro- 
chial SCHOOL SYSTEM AND THE CAUSE OF RELIGION. This is the 

point of special interest to those who believe that "man's chief end 
is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." 

1. The influence of parochial schools on the piety of the Church 
must be great; for youth is the forming season of life. "The child 
is father of the man." An eminent writer on education has affirmed 
that the first five years of a child have more to do in moulding his 
character than any other equal number of years. Whether this be 
true or not, the second and the third five years may be very hope- 
fully employed in training him aright. The first five years being 
the March, the second and third five are the April and May of our 
Spring. It is the season of hope and promise, all of whose opportu- 
nities should be devoted to the high purposes of life and immortality. 
That children can learn a great deal even at a very early period, is 
seen in the facility with which they acquire the knowledge of lan- 
guage — an achievement which almost defies the best efforts of adult 
foreigners during a life-time. The difficulty, not to say impossibility, 
of making up for the neglect of original opportunities demonstrates 
the necessity of an early, in order to secure a thorough, education. 
A boy who has not been taught in early years to spell or to write 
well, will hardly ever recover from the disadvantages of youthful 
inattention. So it is in every thing, especially in religion. A ne- 
glect on this subject in youth is irreparable loss. It throws a gloom 
of terror into the valley of the shadow of death. The remark of Dr. 
Rush is a true one: "Mothers and schoolmasters plant the seed of 
nearly all the good and evil that exists in the world." The youth- 
ful mind is in the highest degree susceptible. Character grows day 
by day. All things, even the most trivial, assist in unfolding it. 
Youth is emphatically the time to store the mind with divine truth, 
to train the conscience carefully under the direction of revelation, 
and to bring all the resources of religion to bear upon the destiny of 
the young immortal. The value of early religious impressions may 
be strikingly illustrated by the memory. The three facts connected 
with the memory that serve our purpose, are that it is one of the 
active faculties of childhood, that the knowledge it treasures up goes 
far to form the character, and that we remember longest what we 
learned in early life. It is obviously then of vital importance to fill 
the memory at this accessible period with the things of religion, in 
order that the thoughts of a child may be his friends and counsellors 
in the formation of character; and that his future life, even down to 



10 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

old age, may be refreshed by the familiar truth which memory 
brings up from childhood, as the natural homage which childhood 
loves to pay to age. 

The great aim of an education in early years should be instruction 
in religion. The teachable disposition of children, their curiosity 
about the things of the invisible world, their freedom from habits of 
prejudice, the ease with which they may be commonly made to 
attend to religious subjects, may be turned to infinite advantage in a 
course of education. There is in children what Bacon calls "the 
sparkle of the purity of man's first estate," which can be hopefully 
retained only during their very earliest years. Our nature, though 
corrupt, is the least corrupt in childhood. Then is offered the best 
opportunity of training immortals for glory — before depraved appe- 
tites have been cherished, and worldly temptations indulged, and 
bad habits formed. The neglect of religious instruction in our 
schools is doing more to nurture infidelity and immorality than ever 
was in the power of Voltaire and Paine. Human nature is so con- 
stituted of God that its destiny for eternity greatly depends on early 
training. No Church therefore can be doing her duty to the rising 
generation that neglects their religious education at the very period 
that usually controls their immortality. Alas, how many children 
are common-schooled out of heaven ! 

2. The influence of a day-school is very great — too great to be 
lost to religious education. The school hours are the most active 
hours of the day for improvement. Our too general and sinful prac- 
tice has been to separate the mind from the heart and conscience ; 
or rather to attempt to cultivate the intellectual whilst the moral 
powers are left to take care of themselves under the active care of 
Satan. This exclusive attention to the head, if it make good scholars, 
will not make good Christians; and in the long run scholarship 
itself is injured by losing the beneficial influences of religion. Reli- 
gious instruction sustains to a school something of the relation of the 
Sabbath to the rest of the week; sanctifying, elevating and doubly 
blessing all duties in consequence of the homage rendered to this 
special divine requirement. The education of the intellect at the 
expense of the heart is an immorality; it is a perversion of the laws 
of nature as well as of the commands of revelation. It would be 
considered monstrous to undertake to cultivate the sense of hearing 
by shutting up a child in a dark room, and thereby injuring his sense 
of sight. The child has a right to the development of all his senses. 
He has a higher right to the development of all the faculties of his 
soul, moral and intellectual. The Chinese custom of bandaging the 
feet is not a more effectual encroachment on the perfection of the 
physical system than our political custom of dwarfing the heart is a 
dishonour to the moral system. Even if our children were young 
angels, they ought to be daily taught the truth of heaven. Since 
they are sinners they need it more. A child should never remember 
the day " when good things were strangers to his thoughts." 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 11 

The idea that Sabbath schools supply the place of daily religious 
instruction is no more true than that going to church and being 
devout on the Sabbath is enough religion for all the week. Sabbath 
schools do indeed assist in supplying the unchristian defects of our 
week-day schools: but their agency is the less effectual on account 
of the neglected education of the other six days. The Sabbath was 
never intended to supercede religious instruction day by day. The 
Lord's day is the perfection of the system of which the other six days 
form a part. It was intended to give efficacy and impulse to the 
religious training of the week, by rallying around the six days the 
sanctifying power of a seventh devoted wholly to God. The "design 
of the Sabbath is misconceived by the attempt to overburden it with 
the religious responsibilities of the entire week. 

The same remarks apply in a measure to religious instruction at 
home. This is unquestionably the most important and hallowed of 
all human instrumentalities. Yet it does not dispense with other 
agencies. On the contrary it invites them. No children are better 
prepared to profit by a religious education at school than those who 
are well instructed at home. But I here are multitudes of children 
who receive little or no religious instruction at home, and still 
greater numbers who are surrounded only by evil influences. 
How important, then, for the Church to provide for the daily teach 
ing of all her children in the things which belong to their peace! 
The thorough, old method, "precept upon precept, precept upon pre- 
cept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little,' 
is a fundamental principle in the parochial school system. 

3. The doctrines of grace, which are the peculiarities of revela- 
tion and the true groundwork of sound religious education, cannot 
be taught through the medium of State exposition and secular 
agency. The clamorous demands of political and infidel agitation 
exclude these doctrines from our public schools. They cannot be 
named in the generality of State institutions; or if named, it is by a 
bare toleration which may be converted at any time into downright 
prohibition. We maintain that if our children ought to be instructed 
in religion at all, they ought to be instructed in the fundamental 
truths of revealed religion — the doctrines which the Holy Spirit has 
used in all ages in the conversion and sanctification of the soul, 
and in "bringing the redeemed of the Lord to Zion with songs and 
everlasting joy." A diluted, historical religion, or an indefinite State 
religion is not the religion of Christ. God's method is to employ 
evangelical doctrine in leading sinners to the cross and to heaven. 
However much the world may depreciate doctrine, Presbyterians 
have always considered it necessary to the life of Christianity. At 
the baptism of our children, the minister publicly announces that 
there is "an excellent summary of the principles of our holy religion 
in the Confession of Faith of this Church, and in the Larger and 
Shorter Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly." These "prin- 
ciples of our holy religion" — the principles of the Bible, of the Re- 



12 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

formation, and of the Presbyterian Church — are the principles with 
which our children should become familiar in early life. This is the 
very aim of the parochial system. The exclusion, by the " index 
expurgatorius" of the State, of these principles from the public 
schools makes it necessary for the Church to organize schools of her 
own, where religion can be early taught under her own authority. 
Whilst we " render unto Csesar the things that are Csesar's," we 
must u render unto God the things that are God's." Religious instruc- 
tion had better be any one thing that is good than every thing and 
nothing. Where religion is taught in a by-way, it is very apt to 
become a by-word. In arranging our system of education, which 
we are compelled to do in self-defence, Presbyterians will not rest 
satisfied with any teaching short of " the truth as it is in Jesus." 
The religion of their fathers must be taught to their children. 

4. The influence of parochial schools on parental and pastoral 
fidelity will be a great advantage to the religious interests of the 
rising generation. Our children have been too much neglected, not 
only in our schools, but at our firesides and in our sanctuaries. Any 
movement of the Church on their behalf will necessarily act with 
power upon all the other sources of influence. Parents will be stimu- 
lated to take a new interest in the Christian education of their chil- 
dren by means of a school system that forms a part of the plansof 
their Church. Pastors will in like manner be induced to renew their 
activity in this great cause, so closely connected with the success of 
their labours. Our Church will, in all probability, be more effectu- 
ally aroused on the subject of Christian education than at any pre- 
vious period of our history. Parental and pastoral supervision will 
readily co-operate by sympathy and by principle with the public 
efforts of the Church to bless the rising generation. 

5. It is evident that children, trained up for God at school as well 
as at home, and on the week-day as well as the Sabbath, will pos- 
sess those attainments in religious knowledge which place them in 
a favourable position, by God' 's grace, for the salvation of the soul. 
Such youth will in the ordinary course of Providence grow up to 
respect the Sabbath, to engage in private devotion, to read their 
Bibles, and to appreciate the instructions of the sanctuary. In a 
word, they will have been trained up "in the way they should go;" 
and the promise of a blessing belongs to their parents and to them. 
The history of the Church proves that those whose characters have 
been formed most nearly on this model, constitute the vast majority 
of the hopefully pious God's ways confirm his word. Even if the 
early life of persons thus instructed pass away without vital religion, 
for them there is still hope. Like the girdled forest whose withering 
pines have been succeeded by a marvellous undergrowth of the majes- 
tic oak, so a period of most unpromising youth is often followed on 
the soil of gospel instruction by a manhood and old age of devoted 
piety, beneath whose shades children and children's children repose 
with delight. Dr. Witherspoon remarks as follows: 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. IS 

" The instances of conversion in advanced life are very rare: and 
when it seems to happen, it is perhaps most commonly the resurrec- 
tion of those seeds which were sown in infancy but had been long 
stifled by the violence of youthful passions or the pursuits of ambi- 
tion and the hurry of an active life. I have known several instances 
of the instructions, long neglected, of deceased parents at last rising 
up, asserting their authority, and producing the deepest penitence 
and real reformation. But my experience furnishes me with no 
example of one brought up in ignorance and security, after a long 
course of profaneness, turning at the close of life to the service of the 
living God.'* (Vol. II. p. 255.) 

One reason unquestionably why so few conversions occur among 
children and youth is, that their daily religious instruction is so much 
neglected. There would be more Nathan Dickermans and Mary 
Lothrops, more babes and sucklings in Christ to perfect His praise, 
if there were more religious training to lead the soul heavenward. A 
school system that carefully taught religion day by day, and antici- 
pated, as far as human means can, the developments of human 
depravity, has the hope of receiving the favour of God. It is a plan 
so accordant with the sympathies of Jesus, his interest in little chil- 
dren, and the general tenor of his life and word, that it would be 
accompanied, we verily believe, by the power of the Holy Spirit. 
Let the two systems of Church and of State education be left to the 
decision of divine Providence, be laid up together before the ark of 
the testimony, and we should soon find the buds, blossoms and 
almonds honouring the appointed instrumentality of Zion. We 
should see piety illustrated in all ages, budding, blossoming and 
bearing fruit in the courts of the Lord; and Faith could point to 
many of our children and youth, exclaiming with the most enlarged 
meaning, "of such is the kingdom of heaven!" 

III. MINISTERIAL TRAINING. 

The connexion between parochial schools and ministerial 
education is a subject of very great interest and importance. 

It is a fact deserving of special attention that the institutions 
founded in the early period of our history had a direct reference to 
education for the ministry. The " Log College" of Tennent, the 
academies at New London and Fagg's Manor, and Princeton Col- 
lege, which were among our most ancient seminaries of learning, 
were established with a primary view to this object. With the 
exception of a few Presbyterian colleges of more recent origin, our 
institutions of learning seem to have now lost sight of this great aim. 
Whilst our Church has wisely fostered theological seminaries as 
auxiliaries in securing a thorough ministerial training, she has almost 
entirely overlooked the character of the preparatory schools, acade- 
mies, and colleges. Instead of beginning at the foundation and 
going up with care, our chief attention has been directed to the finish 



14 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

of the superstructure. Or to use a figure of frequent application, we 
have completed the upper part of our ecclesiastical edifice and left 
the basement and the school room untouched. 

1. The children of the Church, who are by God's grace to be her 
future ministers, will receive a better religious and intellectual 
training in parochial schools than they now receive. It would be 
well for the Church if she could say of all her ministers "from a 
child thou hast known the Scriptures." But all mothers are not 
like Hannah and Eunice, nor are all grand-mothers like Lois. The 
Church cannot trust her children exclusively to parental fidelity, nor 
would it be her duty to do so, even if that fidelity could be relied 
upon. The children of the Church should be well educated and 
religiously educated at school, whatever may be their training at 
home. Facts demonstrate that the early education of our candidates 
is very much neglected. Many of them are obliged to go to acade- 
mies at the age of twenty years and upwards, to learn the rudiments 
of knowledge. Not only is much precious time thus lost, but time 
so precious that nothing can supply its loss. Even those ministers 
who have received a continuous education from their youth up, iu 
existing institutions, might have been trained in Church institutions 
to far more substantial attainments both in the religious and intel- 
lectual qualifications of their profession. There cannot be a doubt 
that our whole system of ministerial education depends upon pa- 
rochial schools as its natural, essential and well-ordered basis. 

2. This will further appear when we consider that the parochial 
system will, with the blessing of God, give the Church a wider range 
from which to expect ministerial supplies. She will not only have 

better ministers by God's grace, but more of them. In proportion as 
Christian education exerts an influence on the minds and hearts of 
the youth of the Church, are the probabilities increased of their turn- 
ing their attention to the ministry. There is no irreverence in such 
an anticipation. God employs means in the advancement of his 
kingdom. As the multiplication of churches secures in the ordinary 
course of Providence an increase of communicants, so a larger class 
of youth religiously educated in Church schools will be likely to fur- 
nish an increased supply for the sanctuary. The increase of edu- 
cated youth would, from the nature of the case, be chiefly from among 
the poor; and this is the class from which God selects most frequently 
the ministers of his word. Poverty has deprived many a man of his 
education, and thereby compelled him to work on a farm, or to be a 
mechanic, or to engage in some other honourable though subordinate 
employment, whose noble mind might have been expanded and pre- 
pared to preach Christ crucified in demonstration of the Spirit and 
with power. Many a " village Hampden" might have been trained 
to contend valiantly against the royal foe of the human race; many 
a gem might have been plucked from the now unfathomed caves of 
poverty and care to deck with sanctuary lustre the diadem of Jesus. 
The following statements in reference to the supplies for the min- 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 15 

isfry, occur in a report of a committee of the Synod of Kentucky: 
" In consequence of the Church neglecting the baptized youth, the 
ministry was ill supplied, while other professions were crowded. 
From 1620 to 1720, a period when the Church paid attention to her 
youth, more than half of all the graduates of American colleges 
entered the ministry; from 1720 to 1770 one-third; from 1770 to 
1800 one-fifth; from 1800 to 1810 one-sixth, and for several years 
in the Western country it might be safely said not one- twentieth. 
The irreligious had so managed and taken advantage of the remiss- 
ness of the Church, as to get into their hands both colleges and ele- 
mentary schools."* 

The history of Princeton College corroborates the above testimony. 
The number of graduates at this institution who entered the ministry 



from 1748 to 176S 


was about 


h 


" 1768 to 1788 


a 


i 


" 1788 to 1808 


u 


i 

8 


" 1808 to 1828 


a 


1 


" 1828 to 1841 


a 


1 
T 



If the Church had no other object in view than simply the increase 
of the ministry, she would be more than justified in amending and 
extending her system of education. 

3. It is obvious that education under Church supervision would 
greatly promote the cause of ministerial training as a safe-guard 
against failures. The qualifications of candidates trained up from 
early youth under the watchful care of the Church would be well 
known in all our congregations and Presbyteries. From the nature 
of the case, there would be fewer risks encountered. Character 
would be formed on a superior model; piety would have a more 
intelligent basis; the nature of a call to the ministry would be better 
understood; and the general qualifications of candidates would be 
better known, as well as of a better order. Almost all the failures 
connected with the Board of Education have been from the class 
whose early education was neglected. The most hopeful candi- 
dates of the Church are those who have drank in the "sincere milk 
of the word" with their nursery rhymes and their mother's prayers, 
and who have been regularly trained in Sabbath and other schools. 
It must not be supposed, however, that under the best possible 
system of Church education, we shall be free from failures among 
our candidates. But we may labour by prayer and by effort of 
every kind to diminish the number ; and it is believed that no 
improvement upon our existing system would be found so radical 
and effectual as the education of our future ministers under the 
care of the Church, from the school to the theological seminary. 

4. It is obvious that this system would be more satisfactory to 
the Church, as a means of perfecting the education of her future 

* Dr. Davidson's History of Kentucky, p. 309. 



16 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

ministers. The objections to the Board of Education would to a 
very great extent be removed by a system of Church institutions. 
Candidates would then never be required to pledge themselves to 
enter the ministry until they had arrived after all the discipline of a 
full preparatory course at the threshold of the theological seminary. 
If our Church were prepared to take the position at once that she 
would educate all the children and youth in her congregations with- 
out reference to profession, it would be the grandest movement of her 
history and of the age. This position she must ultimately reach 
under the system of ecclesiastical education. It is a position of glory 
as well as of power. Then would our indigent youth enjoy from 
the beginning all the advantages of an intellectual and moral training 
under the best influences; and when they felt called by the Spirit of 
Christ to follow him in the regeneration of the world by preaching 
his gospel, they would still receive aid and enter the theological semi- 
nary with all that maturity and stability of mental and religious 
character which forbode a happy issue. In the mean time the Church 
must do the best she can with the measures now in operation. She 
needs ministers too much to dispense with her present plans because 
not as perfect as they might be. Our existing measures of ministerial 
education have been wonderfully successful — so much so as to indi- 
cate what greater blessings the Church might expect to receive both 
in the character and number of her candidates, if she commenced 
with parochial schools and then followed up the work of education 
in Presbyterial academies and afterwards in Synodical colleges; — all 
parts of a regular system strictly ecclesiastical, which terminates, for 
those who are called by the Spirit, in theological seminaries. 

IV. PROSPERITY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

The connexion between parochial schools and the pros- 
perity of the presbyterian church is a topic deserving considera- 
tion in analyzing the probable advantages and results of the proposed 
system of education. If parochial schools, as we have attempted to 
show, would promote sound education, practical piety, and the inte- 
rests of candidates for the ministry, the cause of Presbyterianism 
must be onward. It lives and thrives by the power of truth, holi- 
ness, and ministerial fidelity. All that has been said in favour of the 
contemplated plan of education is a plea for the general prosperity of 
the Church. 

Our denomination has, with the blessing of God, done a good 
work in the regeneration of the world; but our resources of use- 
fulness have yet to be developed in their capacious reality. Early 
religious education would be to Zion like the endowment of a new 
power. Strength accrues to a church by the very act of putting 
forth new efforts in a good cause. The influences of enterprise, 
perseverance, and proper self-reliance, so favourable to the forma- 
tion of personal character, are equally strong in moulding the general 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 17 

character of a Church. A Church awake to the interests of the rising 
generation, will show a very different front in the army of God's 
elect from one that has never been disciplined in this elementary ser- 
vice. The incidental benefits of well directed Christian activity may 
be seen in the quickening power of the foreign missionary scheme. 
How many energies otherwise dormant have been aroused into 
vigorous religious action! How much sympathy, how much prayer, 
how much self-denial, how much effort of every kind has been put 
forth for the salvation of the heathen — all returning in Heaven's 
appointed circle of benevolence to bless the Church with a reflex in- 
fluence precious and all-pervading! Every new enterprise, like the 
Board of Publication for example, that works wisely for God, calls 
forth energies hitherto undeveloped in their true proportion. On the 
principle, then, that every new element of prosperity exerts a leaven- 
ing power on the aggregate instrumentalities of the Church, we have 
every reason to anticipate the most extensive benefits, direct and col- 
lateral, from a revival throughout our bounds of a religious interest 
in the education of children. This interest is both of a household 
and a public nature. It is identified with the gates of Zion as well as 
with the dwellings of Jacob. It is part of a grand moral movement 
that would purify and invigorate all the private, social, and public 
relations of Christianity. 

Parochial schools would have a tendency to cement the bonds of 
union between the members of the same congregation and to bring 
up the children on terms of social familiarity and sympathy. The 
teachers of our week-day schools would be superintendents or teach- 
ers in our Sabbath schools, throwing a great accession of influence 
into the department of Sabbath instruction. The power of the min- 
istry would be increased beyond computation by a large band of 
faithful Christian teachers who co-operated day by day throughout 
the year in familiarizing the minds of our youth with the doctrines 
and duties of the Bible. A Church of such aims and resources would, 
with the blessing of God, have "the work of her hands established" 
in the raising up of an intelligent, sober-minded, conscientious, use- 
ful generation of Christians. 

One of the important results to the Church from parochial educa- 
tion, would be the better instruction of our youth in the history of 
the Church. Our doctrines, imperfectly as they have been taught, 
are better known than our history. Yet no Church has an ancestry 
and an earthly inheritance more illustrious and soul-inspiring than 
ourown. Ourchildren should be well taught the history of her true and 
glorious succession, her agency in the Reformation, her trials and 
persecutions, her spirit of martyr endurance, her love of liberty, her 
exaltation of the Bible as the great text-book of Protestantism and 
especially of Presbyterianism. How full of interest is the history of 
our Church in Scotland, England, France, Switzerland and other 
lands! How many noble lessons of true Christian devotion, of 
earnest effort to advance the kingdom of Christ, distinguish the 

2 M 



18 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

annals of the Huguenots, the Covenanters, the Puritans, the Cal- 
vinists of every clime and nation and age! Our Church with all 
her faults has a great advantage in being adapted to conciliate 
not only Christian hearts by her doctrines, but American hearts by 
her history. Evangelical truth and civil liberty have been to an 
honourable degree our characteristics. Such lessons might be made 
to tell with power upon the rising generation. The combined influ- 
ence of our Bible truth and of our Providential history, has yet to 
be fairly tried upon our children as the means of exciting their souls 
to love their God and their Church. If it be true that men raised 
among the mountains imbibe the spirit of freedom from their very 
birth, it is no less true that Presbyterians trained amidst the moral 
grandeur of their sublime history, would "stand fast in the liberty 
wherewith Christ hath made them free." 

Our Church should endeavour to "gird on the harness" for 
the approaching contest with Antichrist. Every element that can 
assist in elevating the Christian character of the rising generation, 
must be brought into requisition. Religious instruction in early 
youth is peculiarly demanded at a period like this. It is high time 
for us to awake out of sleep, " redeeming the time because the days 
are evil.'" Presbyterians must better prepare to meet the crisis in 
the destiny of the Messiah's kingdom. They are now comparatively 
unprepared to meet its contingencies of trial and storm. Their chil- 
dren must not be thus left without the full preparation of the gospel 
of peace, but should be carefully educated by the Church to do their 
whole duty, "and having done all, to stand." 

Our neglect of adequate religious education has been seen in the 
facility with which some of our youth have been enticed into 
churches where evangelical truth has lost its divine prominence. 
"If they are weary in the land of peace, what will they do in the 
swelling of Jordan !" If they are so easily misled now, what shall 
guard them in future from the fiercer temptations of Antichrist? 
God has punished us with defaulters enough to open our eyes to 
behold our sins; and if we make no effort at effectual reformation, 
our doom is as certain as our warning. Why is it that Presbyterians 
have swelled the ranks of other denominations to the disparagement 
of their own glorious system of gospel grace and liberty ? To use 
the language of a quaint divine: " What may be the cause why so 
much cloth so soon changeth colour? It is because it was never 
ivet-wadded — which giveth fixation to a colour and setteth it in a 
cloth." This is the reason we lose our members from time to time; 
they were never "wet-wadded" in our Catechism, were never deep- 
dyed by an early, thorough religious education, which giveth "fixa- 
tion" to our truth and setteth it in the soul. Who often hears of a 
Presbyterian in Scotland abandoning the altar and the graves of his 
fathers for prelacy or popery? The same guardian attention for the 
education of their children which honours the land of Knox, once 
characterized all the churches of the Reformation. De Thou says of 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 19 

the Reformed Church of France, two hundred and fifty years ago, 
"you can scarcely find a boy among them who cannot give you an 
intelligent account of the faith they profess." A popish theologian 
sent to convert the Protestants of Dauphine, declared that it was 
"hopeless to make proselytes where the children were so well 
grounded in their creed. " Such facts make a common sense appeal 
to the members of every evangelical communion. We trust they 
will not be lost to our own. The Presbyterian Church must arouse 
herself to this great work of training her youth for God. She has 
forgotten the exploits of the Reformation, and needs herself a refor- 
mation, in order to renew her wonders in the service of the 
Redeemer. 

Presbyterians were once honoured in the Providence of God as the 
chief promoters of Christian education in the country. Their schools 
and academies which were like "the cedar tree that is in Lebanon" 
are now like "the hyssop that springeth out of the wall." Our influ- 
ence is comparatively insignificant. The "Log College" of Ten- 
nent would be a greater wonder and glory in these days than it was 
a century ago. Although its foundations have disappeared, and its 
little garden is now part of a common wheat-field, yet the spot where 
it once was is yet known by the luxuriant growth of vegetation 
which every year renewedly blesses its heaven-favoured locality. 
The fertility of nature around that ancient seminary of learning is 
an emblem of the visible results to be expected from Church institu- 
tions planted amidst the harvest-fields of the world. A blessing 
would be around about them, and their memorial would descend 
from age to age. 

The sure method for our Church to prosper is to "train up her 
children in the way they should go." School extension is, with the 
divine blessing, a glorious basis of Church extension. We must not 
only preach the gospel to those who have grown up, but we must 
train those who are growing up in the truth of the gospel. The 
Free Church of Scotland, with a high remembrance of her ancestral 
privileges, has gone diligently to work in building school houses as 
defences of the gates of Zion. This policy, sanctioned by the word 
of God and commended by all experience, will, if adopted by our 
own Church, cause her to resume her ancient position "clear as the 
sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners." 

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The Board of Education having thus attempted to exhibit the rela- 
tions of the parochial school system to elementary education, practical 
piety, ministerial training, and the prosperity of the Presbyterian 
Church, express the hope that the General Assembly will take action 
on this important subject. 

Difficulties there are of various kinds — many of them of a very 
serious nature, whilst others are exaggerated and rise up with gigan- 



20 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

tic aspect to terrify us from the land of promise. No noble enterprise 
for God was ever set on foot without adverse reports from every side. 
The times require faith and perseverance, and the hardy spirit of 
Christian patience and endurance. If the work be a good one, it can 
be accomplished. Whatever ought to be done can be done. Diffi- 
culties in a good cause are often the blessings of God in disguise — the 
merciful interpositions of his Providence to teach his people their 
dependence, and to arouse within them the energies necessary to 
hearty co-operation and successful achievement. Obstacles would 
quickly disappear, if every Presbyterian had it in his heart to say 
with Caleb, " let us go up at once and possess the land ; for we are 
well able to overcome it." If we magnify obstacles and murmur 
against the Lord for bidding us go forward in the midst of difficul- 
ties, his righteous judgment may keep us wandering for the life-time 
of another generation in the wilderness of State institutions. 

The action of the General Assembly, within the acknowledged 
range of its functions, is deemed all-important. It must, from the 
nature of the case, be chiefly advisory in its character — be suited to 
encourage, to lead forward, and to influence rather than to command. 
Any system of education depends so essentially upon public opinion 
that it would be in vain for the Assembly to attempt to carry into 
execution measures that did not pre-suppose the local co-operation 
of the churches. What seems to be peculiarly necessary at the pre- 
sent time is to encourage those churches to move forward in this 
great work, who are in some measure prepared for it, but yet are 
waiting for a more decisive expression of ecclesiastical sanction. 
In various parts of our country, the Board are assured that our 
churches and presbyteries are looking forward with anxious interest 
to the action of the present General Assembly. 

I. The Board of Education, in obedience to the resolution of last 
year, respectfully suggest that the General Assembly should, in the 
first place, affirm their sense of the importance of a system of 
Christian education to be extended as far as possible throughout their 
congregations. The characteristic principle of the system contem- 
plated would be religious instruction from the word of God in con- 
nexion with sound, intellectual culture; and the general outlines 
of the system would embrace primary schools under the care of 
churches, academies under the care of Presbyteries, and ultimately 
colleges under the care of one or more Synods. The subject of 
theological seminaries is supposed to be already disposed of in the 
settled policy of the Church. 

The Board deem it suitable in this place to make a few practical 
remarks on the general outlines of the system which they propose for 
the recommendation of the Assembly. 

As to parochial schools, they have to encounter difficulties which 
belong to any other system of education; such as sparseness of popu- 
lation, want of interest in the cause of education, difficulty of procur- 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 21 

ing teachers, &c. The occasion does not demand any allusion to 
difficulties which exist in common with all other plans. 

The principal difficulty of a practical kind, at least in many places, 
is supposed to arise from the expense of supporting teachers in 
Church schools. The Board suggest the following considerations to 
show that the embarrassment from this source will not be so great as 
to be likely to defeat the project. 

1. Many churches can unquestionably support their own schools. 
The great majority are able to do this without serious inconvenience. 
The least of all difficulties is really the want of pecuniary means; 
for God has furnished an abundance of means in the Presbyterian 
Church to do her whole duty in the conversion of the world. If the 
Free Church of Scotland, heavily laden with the burdens and respon- 
sibilities of her new organization, did not hesitate to add a complete 
school-system to her other ecclesiastical enterprises, the Presbyterian 
Church in this country would be unworthy of her ancestry to bring 
forward so ignoble an excuse on a subject of such vast importance, 
and at a period of eventful crisis in her history. The fact is that our 
Church, so far from having reached the point of full expansion in 
her pecuniary resources, has hardly done much more than to start 
from the minimum of contraction. Instead of commanding the hom- 
age yielded to self-denial, we are suffering in the judgment of the 
world and in our own consciences the shame of self-indulgence and 
covetousness. One thing is encouraging, and that is that the more 
the Church has multiplied the objects of benevolence, the more have 
the hearts of the people been opened to give their worldly substance. 
No undertaking is more likely to become popular in our churches 
than the education of the rising generation. It ought to be taken 
for granted that our Church will enlarge her liberality in the Chris- 
tian and dutiful work of training her own children. 

2. The money now spent in education would go far to support 
parochial schools. The funds which are scattered about in different 
places, would, if collected together, contribute largely to defray the 
whole expense of Church institutions. 

3. Many schools might probably be started with the nucleus of 
an existing school; and thus a great part of the difficulty be antici- 
pated. 

4. A part, or the whole of the teacher's salary might be raised by 
private subscription, or by monthly, quarterly, or annual collections; 
and if there were any deficiency, it would be supplied in a great 
many cases on a renewed appeal to parents. 

5. In some places, ministers or members of their families, might 
assume, at the outset especially, the responsibility of beginning the 
undertaking. Though an addition to their labours, it would also be 
an addition to their means of doing good, as well as of obtaining a 
temporal support. 

6. It is not too much to expect that persons would be found to 



22 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

enter upon this work, with small prospects of support at first; but 
yet who were so impressed with its importance, and had so much 
faith in Providence as to be willing to make the experiment, even 
amidst many discouragements. 

7. In many congregations, especially in the country, different 
families might be willing to board the teacher for a time, and thus 
diminish the expense of the salary. 

8. In the course of events, legacies would in all probability be left 
to assist local schools. No class of benevolent objects seems so suit- 
able to receive the aid of permanent funds as schools, colleges, and 
other institutions of education. In Scotland, large legacies have 
sometimes been left for these objects, as also in our own country. It 
is believed that many would be willing to follow the example of 
John Calvin, who although he died poor, being worth only a few 
hundred dollars, left a legacy in his will to the boy's school in 
Geneva. 

9. A general Church fund might be annually raised, after the man- 
ner of our other Church operations, to assist feeble congregations in 
the salaries of their teachers. On this point more will be said pre- 
sently. 

The preceding statements on the matter of supporting our Church 
schools are not supposed to meet every case that may arise, but are 
merely thrown out to be applied according to circumstances. It is 
believed that they will apply so far as to put it in the pecuniary 
power of a great majority of our churches to have parochial schools. 

The salaries of teachers would of course vary according to cir- 
cumstances. In New England, it is understood that the salaries in 
the common schools are from $12 to $20 per month. Each Church 
would supply its own school according to its own rate and ability. 

Nothing has been said in regard to the public money in different 
States. Although assistance from this quarter is by no means a 
hopeless expectation, if active measures were persevered in to ob- 
tain it, yet there are many considerations which render any reliance 
upon the State not only precarious but undesirable. 

The method of applying i\\e money to support the schools must be 
left to the judgment of each congregation. Some might judge it best 
to support the teacher on a salary, and to open the school, without 
charge, to the children of all persons belonging to the congregation. 
Others might prefer to have each child pay a small sum, and to make 
up the deficiency, if any, either by private subscription or from the 
general Church fund, if the congregation were feeble. Experience 
would soon adjust details of this kind. 

The school house might be built at once in many congregations. 
In others, the lecture room, or basement of the church edifice might 
be used for that purpose. In others, a room might be rented until 
better arrangements could be made. 

The Board believe that in hundreds of our churches parochial 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 23 

schools might be organized during the ensuing year without much 
practical difficulty. An impression is too apt to prevail that a paro- 
chial school is some new wonder, which is to be introduced in a way 
almost miraculous. Whereas, if the friends of Church education, 
with the Session of the Church to guide them, went heartily to work, 
the indistinct and strange vision would in many cases speedily become 
a Christian reality. In such matters', experience will soon suggest a 
remedy for local wants and difficulties. Enterprise is the ally of 
faith; and the blessing of heaven accompanies the prayers and 
labours of Christian activity in a good cause. 

In regard to academies under the care of Presbyteries, the Board 
think that fewer pecuniary and other difficulties would exist in their 
establishment than in regard to parochial schools. Partly because 
there is little or no interference with State institutions; partly because 
the salaries of the teachers would be more easily provided by the 
tuition and by the liberality of a large district; and partly because 
there are fewer inherent difficulties. Any Presbytery in the Church, 
for example, could furnish pupils enough for such an institution. 
The fact that the Methodists have without difficulty established such 
seminaries in their various Conferences, shows that the work is feasi- 
ble in the Presbyterian Church. 

Our denomination yet retains nominal possession of many acade- 
mies, or select schools, as they are sometimes called. Their teachers 
belong to the Presbyterian Church; but their real value is in a great 
measure lost to us by the diluted religion taught in most of them. 
Their object being generally that of worldly gain, the number of 
pupils is a very great consideration. In order to conciliate all denomi- 
nations, nothing distinctive is taught as to the truth of God; and thus 
Presbyterian children, who are the great majority in many of these 
schools, are excluded from the privileges of their faith. The Board 
rejoice to state that the Presbytery of Tuscaloosa has already taken 
action on this subject, and is resolved to establish a Presbyterial aca- 
demy. In various Presbyteries several such institutions might be 
successfully carried on. As with parochial schools, the academy 
might be started with the nucleus of an institution already in opera- 
tion. The pecuniary affairs of a Presbyterial academy might, in 
most cases, perhaps, be left to private enterprise. The Presbytery 
would, however, secure the edifice under their own control; and 
would always insist upon the right of examining the qualifications of 
teachers and of general visitation and supervision. 

* It deserves consideration whether a female seminary ought not to 
be aimed at by every Presbytery. However desirable it may be, in 
the estimation of many, to educate at least their daughters at home, 
there is unquestionably a demand for female institutions. The Pa- 
pists, the Episcopalians, and the Methodists have theirs; and Presby- 
terians, who seek an education for their daughters, should not be 
obliged to send them among strangers. When the influence of the 



24 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

female sex on the destinies of the Church and the world is considered, 
this subject may well awaken our anxious inquiries. 

Many of our Presbyterial academies might be under the supervi- 
sion of ministers. Such general control would not interfere so much 
with pastoral labours as to compensate the loss of a strong religious 
influence in these institutions. Many of the fathers of the Presby- 
terian Church laboured zealously for God as teachers as well as 
preachers; and our Zion would have no occasion to mourn over 
the repetition of the arduous services of a past generation. 

The importance of these Presbyterial academies is enhanced by 
the fact that they would be the nurseries for the teachers of our 
parochial schools. They are an indispensable part of a system of 
Christian education, viewed either in reference to the training up of 
teachers, of candidates for the ministry, or of educated youth to 
adorn the Church or the State in other professions or walks in life. 

No language can describe the influence on our Church and on the 
world of one academy in each Presbytery — of one hundred and eigh- 
teen institutions to train up our youth for life and immortality. And 
then, were we to double the number for the female sex, it would be 
a demonstration of the principle that " two would put ten thousand 
to flight." 

Several hundred Presbyterial academies for the Christian edu- 
cation of youth of both sexes would concentrate in the Presby- 
terian Church an amount of power, influence, and prosperity un- 
known in her annals. 

In regard to colleges, the Presbyterian Church is perhaps less 
open to the accusation of remissness than on the subject of schools 
and academies. There is great room for improvement, however, 
here. The number of colleges, strictly under Presbyterian, ecclesias- 
tical control is very small. Danville, Oakland, South Hanover, 
Davidson and Oglethorpe, are believed to be the only ones. The 
Presbyterians have nominal control over various others, as Prince- 
ton, Lafayette, Washington, Jefferson, Prince Edward, &c. The 
rapid growth of our country shows the necessity of organizing more 
colleges, especially at the West. It is to be hoped that every new 
institution of this kind will be committed to the management of the 
Church, instead of to a comparatively irresponsible body of self-per- 
petuating or State-elected trustees. 

With these hints on the various outlines of the system, the 
Board recommend the Assembly to give their ecclesiastical sanction 
to the general plan of Christian education, particularly in refer- 
ence to parochial schools. A definite sanction on the part of 
the Assembly will, it is believed, go far towards concentrating the 
attention of the Church on this whole subject, and ultimately bring- 
ing out her resources into harmonious and efficient action. Public 
sentiment in various parts of our country needs more than any thing 
else, the stimulus of the conviction that this system of Christian 
education is to be the system of the Presbyterian Church. 



REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 25 

II. In the second place, the Board of Education suggest to the 
Assembly the propriety of calling the attention of their Synods and 
Presbyteries to this great subject. A full discussion in our inferior 
judicatories of the whole matter in all its bearings, would go far to 
settle points on which public sentiment is not now matured. Light 
and truth emanate from the collision of minds. Certainly no subject 
may be more properly submitted to our Synods and Presbyteries 
than the religious and intellectual training of the rising generation. 

III. In the third place, the Board recommend the appointment of 
a minister and elder in every Presbytery, whose duty it shall be to 
collect information about the number and present condition of schools, 
academies and other institutions within their bounds ; their wants as 
a Presbytery on the subject of education ; hinderances which exist iYi 
the establishment of the parochial school system; the number of 
children under fifteen years of age belonging to their congregations ; 
the state of public opinion on the subject of education ; the ability of 
their churches to sustain teachers and build school houses; in short, 
all the statistical information which has any relation to the subject. 
The above committees to present their reports before the 1st of Jan- 
uary, 1848, to the Board of Education, who shall prepare for the 
next General Assembly a summary view of the matters embraced in 
them. 

IV. In the fourth place, it is suggested that the General Assembly 
recommend the Board of Publication to take into consideration the 
subject of school books, and to report to the next Assembly whether 
any thing, and if any thing, what can be done in the great and in- 
creasingly important department of Christian elementary instruction. 

V. In the last place, the Board suggest that the Assembly au- 
thorize the Board of Education to aid, with any funds that may 
be placed at their command for that purpose, feeble churches in 
prosecuting a plan of Christian education. The Board have already 
on hand in their treasury three thousand dollars, which may be 
applied to this object by the permission of friends deeply interested 
in this great cause. It is believed that feeble churches, above all 
others, need the self-sustaining, influential power of Christian schools; 
and that the Assembly should encourage her members and churches 
to assist in the great work of school extension as well as Church 
extension. 

The reasons which incline the Board of Education to be the 
medium of assisting to establish parochial schools among feeble 
churches, and to attend as far as possible to the general interests of 
Christian education, are these : 

1. Parochial schools, as has been shown, are the corner-stones of 
the whole system of ministerial training. 

2. The operation of parochial schools, if successful, will ultimately 
transfer from the Board the elementary education of their candidates. 
Their funds, which would be otherwise withdrawn from service, 
would be thus brought again into active demand. 



26 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

3. The Church would realize more the duty and privilege of pro- 
viding for the education of the ministry, if the training up of all her 
children, in connexion with, and in addition to this particular object, 
were the grand principle and aim of her education efforts. 

4. The fact that Church extension has been managed by the Board 
of Missions, authorizes the expectation that school extension may be 
managed by the Board of Education. 

5. The expense of the organization of a new Board is a motive 
to allow the existing Board to attempt to do the work. 

6. Public sentiment is not perhaps sufficiently matured to demand 
a new organization. 

7. If the Assembly do not authorize some movement on this great 
subject, there is ground to fear that little will be done for another 
year. 

In addition to these considerations, the amount of funds which 
the Board of Education have on hand, seems to be a Providential 
encouragement for them to offer their services. 

The Board of Education, however, wish it to be distinctly under- 
stood by the Assembly, that the suggestion of their own instrumen- 
tality is made only from a sense of obligation to the Church. The 
duties, cares and responsibilities which primary schools would add to 
their existing burdens are not sought, nor are they shunned. If the 
Assembly shall, on the whole, judge it best to commit these interests 
to their care, the Board will, with the divine blessing, labour faith- 
fully and zealously to discharge their additional obligations. If, on 
the other hand, any other course shall be found better adapted to 
secure the successful commencement of the great work in view, the 
Board will most gratefully acknowledge the Providence which has 
opened a " more excellent way." 

Invoking the blessing of God to direct his Church in the prosecu- 
tion of right measures on this important subject, the Board of Edu- 
cation respectfully submit to the Assembly this their report. 

In behalf of the Board, 

Alexander Henry, 

President. 
Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, 

Corresponding Secretary. 

May, 1847. 



APPENDIX. 

ACTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES. 

" The Board of Education, appointed by the last Assembly to report from 
time to time on the subject of Parochial Schools, reported through their Cor- 
responding Secretary, Dr. Van Rensselaer; and their report was referred to 
a special committee, consisting of Drs. Hodge, Jones, and Janeway, and 
Messrs. Snovvden and Mclhvaine." ###### 

"The order of the day was then taken up, viz. the report of the committee 
to whom was referred the Report of the Board of Education on Parochial 
Schools. The resolutions were considered seriatim, amended, and adopted, 
and are as follows, viz. 

1. Resolved, That the Report be committed to the Board of Education, in 
order that it may be printed and circulated among the churches. 

2. Resolved, That this Assembly do hereby express their firm conviction, 
that the interests of the Church and the glory of our Redeemer demand that 
immediate and strenuous exertions should be made, as far as practicable, by 
every congregation, to establish within its bounds one or more primary 
schools, under the care of the Session of the church, in which, together with 
the usual branches of secular learning, the truths and duties of our holy 
religion shall be assiduously inculcated. 

3. Resolved, That this Assembly do hereby earnestly call upon all the 
Synods and Presbyteries under their care, to take the subject of Christian 
education under consideration, and to devise and execute whatever measures 
they may deem most appropriate for securing the establishment of Parochial 
and Presbyterial Schools in our bounds. 

4. Resolved, That a committee, consisting of one minister and one ruling 
elder, be appointed by each Presbytery, to collect information as to the num- 
ber and condition of schools within the bounds of the Presbytery, the 
number of children under fifteen years of age belonging to their congrega- 
tions, the state of public opinion in respect to education, the ability of the 
churches to sustain teachers and build school-houses, and whatever other 
statistical information relating to education they may deem important ; and 
that these committees forward their reports to the Board of Education, on or 
before the 1st of January, 1848. 

5. Resolved, That this whole subject be referred to the Board of Educa- 
tion, and that the Board is hereby authorized to expend whatever moneys 
are committed to them for that purpose, in aid of the establishment of 
Parochial and Presbyterial Schools. 

6. Resolved, That it be recommended to the Board of Publication, to make 
inquiries on the subject of elementary school books, with a view of adapting 
them, as far as practicable, to a system of religious instruction, and that the 
Board report on this subject to the next General Assembly." 

It is a matter of gratitude to the great Head of the Church and of con- 
gratulation with the friends of Christian education, that the above resolu- 
tions passed the Assembly unanimously. 



28 APPENDIX. 

ACTION OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES. 

" 1. Resolved, That until otherwise ordered, the business connected with 
parochial schools be transacted by the Executive Committee of the Board. 

2. Resolved, That the correspondence on parochial schools and the funds 
contributed for this object, be kept distinct from the other correspondence and 
funds of the Board. 

3. Resolved, That circulars to be approved by the Executive Committee 
be addressed to the Sessions, Presbyteries and Synods of the Church on the 
subject of parochial schools. 

4. Resolved, That the following RULES be adopted to regulate the dis- 
tribution of funds for the promotion of parochial schools among feeble 
churches. 

I. On the organization of the school. 

1. Every school applying for aid, must be under the care of the Session of a Presbyte- 
rian church ; and be subject to the general supervision of the Presbytery. 

2. In addition to the usual branches of elementary education, the Bible must be used as 
a text book for daily instruction in religion, and the Shorter Catechism must be taught at 
least twice a week. 

3. The teacher must be a member in good and regular standing of the. Presbyterian 
Church. 

4. The school must be opened with prayer and reading of the Bible; and it is suggested 
that singing, as far as practicable, be taught in the school, and united with the other devo. 
tional exercises. 

II. On applications for aid. 

1. All applications must be approved by the Presbytery. 

2. Such applications must state to the Board of Education what amount has been raised, 
or is expected to be raised for the salary of the teacher; and what amount is needed from 
the Board to make up the salary. Also, the probable number of scholars in the school. 

3. The application must be renewed annually if necessary, at the spring meeting of Pres- 
bytery. 

III. Appropriations. 

1. The maximum of appropriations from the Board shall not, in ordinary cases, exceed 
$75 per annum, and it is expected that in many cases a less amount will be sufficient. 

2. An annual deduction will be made on the amount of the appropriation, according to 
the prosperity of the school. 

3. Appropriations will be paid semi-annually ; and not in advance. 

IV. Relations to the Board of Education. 

1. An annual report shall be sent to the Board by the Session of the church, on or before 
the 1st of March, giving the statistics and describing the general condition of the school. 

2. The Session of the church i9 expected to provide for an annual collection in the 
congregation for the school extension fund of the Board ; and in order that there may be 
uniformity, it is suggested that it be on the first Sabbath of October, or on some other 
Sabbath in that month. 

3. The teacher shall receive a copy of the Annual Report of the Board of Education 
on parochial schools." 

The Board are now ready to receive applications according to the above 
rules. 



APPENDIX. 29 

REMARKS ON THE PRECEDING RULES. 

Most of the rules will commend themselves to those acquainted with our 
system of conducting benevolent operations. 

The Bible is the great text book in religion. A lesson in the Bible will 
naturally form a part of the daily exercises of every school. The plan of 
committing to memory one verse every day, might be advantageously adopt- 
ed. The teacher, if able to sing, would do a good service by training the 
voices of the scholars to engage in this interesting and delightful employment — 
a part of divine worship now so particularly and generally neglected. The 
learning of hymns occasionally would be an appropriate exercise in connexion 
with singing. The Catechism is expected to be taught " at least twice a 
week." Perhaps many teachers would prefer to hear daily one question, and 
to have a general review during the week. Each school will arrange the 
details of its own system of instruction. 

It is desirable that the minister of the congregation should at least once a 
week visit the school, in order to supervise its general interests and to exa- 
mine the children, particularly in religious knowledge. The elders will also, 
no doubt, consider it their duty and privilege to keep themselves personally 
acquainted with the state of things in the school. 

The Board consider it important, for many reasons, that the teacher should 
be a member of the Presbyterian Church. In regard to themocle of choosing 
teachers, the minister and elders who are the regular officers of the Church, 
would properly and of course attend to this duty. 

The amount of the appropriations made by the Board is from a half to a 
third of the average salary that will probably be required for female teachers. 
This is believed to be as high a maximum as is consistent with the wisdom 
of a general rule. In Connecticut, female teachers receive six or seven dol- 
lars a month besides their board; and it is common for the teachers to "board 
round" in private families. About two-thirds of the common-school teachers 
in Connecticut " board round." Whilst this practice has the double advan- 
tage of conforming to the ability of a feeble congregation to sustain a school, 
and of making the teacher acquainted with parents and children, it has the 
disadvantage of infringing on the personal liberty of the teacher, and of 
causing undesirable inconveniences and changes. A more liberal course is 
to raise a fair salary, and to allow the teacher to board according to private 
preference. But the other is a good plan in the absence of a better one ; and 
it will no doubt be acted upon according to circumstances. 

It is exceedingly important for every school to aim at supporting itself. 
Many of those which require aid from the Board will probably need it only 
for the first year. Others will need it for several years, diminishing the 
annual amount required in proportion to their prosperity. In a Church like 
ours, whose congregations multiply at the rate of seventy or eighty a year, 
and whose schools should at least increase in the same proportion, the Board 
can act efficiently only on the general principle of giving less and less to 
schools already in operation in order to aid more and more those springing 
up in new and destitute settlements. 

The operations of the Board, fiscal and general, would be greatly simpli- 
fied if the plan of the Free Church of Scotland were adopted. By this plan, 
every congregation on a fixed day takes up a collection for the School scheme, 
which goes into a general fund. This fund is equally divided among all the 
schools; and then every congregation may supplement or increase its own 
share, if necessary, according to circumstances. 

Education Rooms. 



30 APPENDIX. 

CIRCULAR TO THE SESSIONS OF CHURCHES. 

To the Minister and Elders of the Church of 

Education Rooms, Philadelphia, 1847. 
Dear Brethren — The General Assembly having committed to the Board of Education 
the responsibility of a general oversight of parochial schools, we embrace this opportunity 
of bringing the subject before you in a fraternal and respectful manner. Our object is simply 
to present the matter in certain aspects for your consideration. We are merely the agents 
of the Assembly, to call public attention to one of the most important schemes of benevo- 
lence which the Presbyterian Church in this country has ever attempted to carry into execu- 
tion. We say "scheme of benevolence" because it is assumed that our church officers and 
members can confer upon their children no higher good than the advantages and bless- 
ings of a Christian education. This is emphatically a home enterprise, sacred and tender in 
its aims, very simple in the means to be employed, and reaching through time into eternity 
with its results. 

1. The first point, Brethren, we ask you to consider, is whether a primary church school 
cannot be started and supported within your own bounds ? A great many congregations, 
especially those in cities, towns, and villages, might, with the blessing of God, establish a 
Christian school, whenever they have the mind and the heart to do so. In addressing as we 
now do every Presbyterian Church in the land, we cannot, of course, adapt our remarks to 
the circumstances of any one in particular. Whether yours is called to establish a school 
or not, is not for the Board, under any circumstances, to decide. But we respectfully present 
the question for your own action, with the remark, that the General Assembly have ex- 
pressed " their firm conviction that the interests of the Church and the glory of the Redeemer 
demand that immediate and strenuous efforts be made, as far as practicable by every congre- 
gation to establish within its bounds one or more primary schools." 

2. If your congregation is a feeble one and needs aid in supporting a teacher, the Board 
of Education are ready to assist according to their ability and in conformity with the rules 
herewith submitted. As our school funds are comparatively limited, we feel bound to say 
that your expectation of aid from this quarter must not be very high. We shall endeavour 
to distribute judiciously and with a view to the greatest good, whatever money the friends 
of Christ may transmit to the Board for this object. 

3. It is proper to say that whilst some teachers may be obtained from abroad, it is wisest 
and safest for each congregation to endeavour to obtain a teacher within its own bounds or 
neighbourhood. The Board have already had applications for teachers which they cannot 
meet. This is the principal difficulty in carrying out the scheme. It is well to start with 
keeping in view the great principle that every congregation should endeavour to raise up its 
own teachers. There are many congregations where pious teachers of suitable qualifications 
to commence a school could even now be found. The Board are fully persuaded that as 
a general rule, every church must rely upon its own resources in supplying teachers for its 
schools. The Board will, however, cheerfully aid to the extent of their power in securing 
teachers where required; and they will sometimes be able undoubtedly to assist in procuring 
them. 

4. The General Assembly having authorized the Board to " expend whatever moneys are 
committed to them in aid of the establishment of parochial schools," we hope that all our 
congregations will commit moneys to the Board for this purpose. The feeble churches 
aided by the Board in establishing schools, are all expected to take up a collection, however 
small the amount. This is a good example to those churches who are able to support their 
own schools. No church can exhibit a sweeter token of interest in the general prosperity 
of our Zion, than by helping the destitute churches, especially in the West, to guard their 
children from error and to supply them with a Christian education. 

All the interests of parochial schools, like the other interests of our Church, depend in a 

very great degree upon the prayers, the enterprise, the perseverance, the faith of the Sessions 

of our churches. On them rests great responsibility in reference to the present question. 

The destiny of many a precious child besides your own, dear brethren, will be affected by the 

views you take and the action you put forth on the subject of parochial schools. May the 

Lord enable his Church by his Holy Spirit and by his Providence to ascertain and do his will. 

We are, respectfully and prayerfully, your co-workers in the vineyard of our common Lord. 

In behalf of the Board. 

C. Van Rensselaer, Cor. Secretary. Alexander Henry, President. 



APPENDIX. 31 

CIRCULAR TO THE PRESBYTERIES. 

To the Presbytery of 

Education Rooms, Philadelphia, 1847. 
Dear Brethren in Christ — In respectfully calling your attention, as the organ of the 
Assembly, to the Christian education of the rising generation, our apology for so dointr is 
the position which the Presbyterian Church has in the Providence of God taken on this 
great subject — a position we may say worthy of her ancestry, true and wise for her present 
interests, and hopeful for her children and her children's children. The system of Christian 
education by means of primary Church schools and Presbyterial academies was unanimously 
approved by the representatives of the Presbyteries convened in the General Assembly. 
The enterprise has thus started under the most favourable auspices. The whole matter will 
properly come before the Presbytery through the Minutes of the Assembly. When it is 
brought up, there are certain points, involved in the relations which the Board of Education 
sustain to this subject, to which the Board as co-workers respectfully solicit attention. 

1. The first point is the agency of the Presbytery, according to our rules herewith sub- 
mitted, in recommending feeble churches to receive a part of the school extension fund. 
The Board thought it wise to adopt this requirement on the ground of its being in harmony 
with our Church polity and with our general customs. Demands upon the Church exten- 
sion fund of the Board of Missions are subject to the decision of the Presbytery; and we 
trust the Presbytery will approve of this regulation in regard to demands upon the school 
extension fund. 

2. It will also be seen from our rules that the schools of churches aided by the funds of 
the Board must be subject to the general supervision of the Presbytery. If the teachers 
employed, or the course of religious instruction adopted in the schools be not satisfactory to 
the Presbytery, that body ought in the judgment of the Board, to have their common right 
of review, supervision and general control. This is the plan in the Church of Scotland. 

3. The Board suggest the appointment of a committee to be called the Education Com- 
mittee, who shall attend to the general interests of Christian education within the bounds 
of the Presbytery, and who shall have the oversight of such matters as may require 
direction during the interval of the meetings of Presbytery. As it is common in many 
parts of the Church to appoint an Education Committee for the business of the Board con- 
nected with candidates for the ministry, it is suggested that the same committee where it 
exists, attend to these additional duties. Among these duties, is that of preparing statistical 
information for the Presbytery and for the Church at large, according to the fourth resolu- 
tion of the Assembly. 

4. Another point which the Board anxiously hope the Presbytery will regard with favour 
is that of collections in their churches for the school extension fund. If the enterprise we 
are now engaged in prospers with the blessing of God, it must take its place as a regular 
Church enterprise, and must enlist the hearty co-operation of our ministers, elders, and con- 
gregations. The same general principle, which gives life to our other schemes must animate 
this, viz. each congregation must as far as possible provide for itself and help feeble con- 
gregations. 

5. The subject of Presbyterial academies is recommended by the Assembly in their 
third and fifth resolutions. These academies being, among other uses, nurseries of well 
qualified teachers, the success of the whole scheme i3 in a measure connected with their 
establishment. It is supposed that a male and female academy would be considered desir- 
able in every Presbytery. As candidates for the ministry would be educated in the male 
Presbyterial academies, the Board feel a special interest in this department of the enterprise. 
The Presbytery of Concord have a flourishing institution under their care. The Presbyteries 
of Tuscaloosa and Luzerne have resolved to establish similar institutions. Every Presby- 
tery in our Church will no doubt consider this subject carefully and act for the best interests 
of the kingdom of Christ. 

Trusting that the suggestions contained in this communication and made in the fraternal 
spirit of those who have a common interest in this cause, may be favourably received by the 
Presbytery, 

We remain, dear brethren, Your fellow labourers for Christ. 

In behalf of the Board of Education, 
C. Van Rensselaer, Alexander Henry, 

Corresponding Secretary. President. 



32 APPENDIX. 

SUSTAIN THE SCHOOL EXTENSION ENTERPRISE! 

The General Assembly having unanimously sanctioned the plan of Christian education by 
means of Church schools and academies, it now devolves upon the Churches and Presby- 
teries to carry it into faithful and energetic operation. A good cause ought to be presecuted 
with vigour, especially in these days of active effort on the part of opposers of the truth. Our 
Church has the example of the Free Church of Scotland to stimulate and encourage her in 
the prosecution of her Education measures. Our brethren in that land have organized a 
general system of parochial schools, which carry the blessings of education in free and full 
conjunction with the preaching of the gospel. The General Assembly by their resolutions 
desire to see this same system equally co-extensive with gospel ordinances in our own country. 
In order to accomplish this great result, the school extension scheme must be recognized as 
one of the regular and necessary branches of the benevolent operations of the Presbyterian 
Church. 

The large number of our feeble Churches, especially in the West, calls for very consider- 
able aid in order that this good work may be pushed forward on a scale commensurate with 
its promise and importance. There is an abundance of pecuniary resources to accomplish 
all that is aimed at, without in the least degree affecting other objects, or throwing any real 
burden upon the people. One great difficulty in reaching the resources of our Chuich is 
supposed to be the want of system. It is a singular and humiliating fact that about one 
half of our congregations make no contributions to any of our Boards ! How strongly in 
contrast with this is the fact that every congregation in the Free Church of Scotland 
is reported to have sustained during the last year her benevolent schemes! This difference 
is owing in part at least, if not principally, to the system which energizes the efforts of 
Scotland, and to the want of system which paralyzes ours. 

The following are suggested as reasons for taking up annual collections in our churches 
for the School-extension fund. 

1. Christian education is as important an object as any one to be accomplished by the 
Church of Christ. The salvation of the soul is directly concerned with early training. 

2. If an important object, it ought to be carried forward with vigour. Without means it 
cannot be. 

3. The Church has money enough and to spare. The superfluities of life have not yet 
been reached by our habits of giving. 

4 Parochial schools make an appeal in favour of little children — " the lambs of the 
flock." " Of such is the kingdom of heaven !" 

5. The Free Church of Scotland associates schools with her other religious enterprises. 

6. If not exalted to its true rank by the Church, this enterprise will lose the impulse 
necessary for its advancement. It ought to receive from the beginning the homage which 
is its due. 

7. Christian education has permanent claims upon us as parents, as Christians, as patriots, 
as friends and neighbours — private and public claims that can never pass away. 

8. Many feeble churches, especially in the West, cannot support Christian schools without 
aid, at least at present. The efforts of Romanists at the West can be effectually resisted 
only by counter efforts on our part. Like the prairie fire, their incendiary attempts can be 
best overcome by kindling against them in an opposite direction. 

9. If the State system levies an annual tax, the Church system ought to receive a free- 
will offering from all her faithful sons. " Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, 
and unto God the things that are God's." 

10. Nothing will tend more to keep alive a public interest in the Church, on the subject 
of Education, than the annual presentation of this great cause throughout our bounds. 

11. " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me." 

12. In heaven no one will regret the assistance rendered in establishing schools, where 
the Bible and Catechism were daily taught as the basis of the revelations of the saints 
in glory. 

Let every Christian aid according to his ability — as " God hath prospered him" — in 
" feeding the lambs" whom Christ, the great Shepherd, has congregated within the folds of 
his Church. Let Christian education be henceforth one of our great objects of benevolence ! 
Presbyterians! shall it not be so? 

Education Rooms, Philu., 1847. 



OBJECTS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE 
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

It will be borne in mind by the members of our Church that the plans and operations of 
the Board of Education now include two objects; viz. 

1. The promotion of ministerial education by assisting pious and indigent young men 
in preparing for the Gospel ministry. And 

2. The promotion of general education by assisting feeble churches in sustaining Chris- 
tian schools within their bounds. 

These objects, though distinct, are harmonious. They belong to the same general depart- 
ment of Christian effort, and mutually sustain and strengthen each other in the Church of 
God. 

The moneys that may be contributed for these two objects will be kept separate. It is 
not expected that contributions to one fund will to any extent interfere with contributions 
to the other. The Board have too much faith to suppose that their efforts to organize and 
sustain parochial schools will diminish the amount of donations to the cause of ministerial 
education which has so long enjoyed the confidence and support of the Church. This cause 
?nust be sustained. The assistance which the Board aims at rendering parochial schools is any 
thing but a plea to induce our old friends and patrons to cripple the Board in carrying out the 
original object of their institution. We are persuaded that they will not allow this to be 
the case. Our collections for the department of ministerial education, instead of being 
diminished, should be increased this year on account of the increase in the number of our 
candidates. We respectfully call the attention of the Churches to this fact as an argument 
for them not to fall below last year's mark, but rather to go beyond it. 

The great work of School-extension must also be carried forward, and with the zeal and 
liberality of Christians who are convinced of its vast importance. According to the rules 
of the Board the sum of seventy-Jive dollars is expected to be, on an average, sufficient to 
enable a feeble congregation to sustain a primary school in connexion with its own resources. 
Are there not congregations and individuals who will, to that extent, aid the cause of Chris- 
tian education in the Presbyterian Church? 




EXTRACTS FROM A REPORT TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1846. 

41 If there is any period of life in which man receives deep impressions, it is the period of child- 
hood. If there are any hours of childhood, in which permanent opinions are communicated, 
the hours spent in school are such. If there is any place, where it is important to inculcate 
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, it is the place of daily, common, 
instruction. And with all our reverence and affection for Sabbath-schools, for which we bless 
the name of God, we are unwilling to let six days pass by, without a word of Christ, however 
faithfully he may be held forth to our offspring on the seventh." 

"There is nothing which, under God's blessing, promises so much for the sustentation of 
our covenanted truth, as schools, Presbyterian schools, thorough-paced and above-boaid; 
such schools as shall, every day in the week, direct the infant mind, not only to a meagre 
natural religion, but to the whole round of gracious truth, as it is in Christ Jesus. The 
principles herein asserted are not new among us; but it is high lime that we should carry 
our principles into action." 



TEACHERS 



The Board of Education will, in all probability, have applications from Churches to assist 
in supplying them with teachers. Whilst they do not encourage such applications, from the 
belief that the most reliable method is for every congregation or Presbytery to raise up 
teachers within their own bounds, they will nevertheless do what they can to answer these 
demands. They embrace this occasion to invite Christian teachers who are willing to lake 
charge of Church schools according to the rules on page 28, to send the necessary informa- 
tion to the Office of the Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church, No. 25, Sausom 
street, Philadelphia. 

Communications will receive attention. 



ri£j^S«Sa&S^^5i»SSS®3SS«a6SSSSS®3^^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 598 281 8 



LEGACIES. 



[It is admitted to be the duty of every one, as the steward of God, to use the 
property committed to him, so as to promote the glory of God and the salvation of 
men in the most effectual manner while he yet lives. There may be circumstances 
however, which may prevent persons from dividing their estate during their lifetime, 
but when it comes to be finally disposed of, and accounts balanced for this world 
and the next, there may be many to say, u Let the cause of Christ be my heir" or 
at least " one of my heirs." To meet the views of such, the following form has 
been prepared.] 

DEVISE OR BEQUEST. 

I give and devise to the Trustees of the Board of Education of the Presbyterian 

Church in the United States of America, the sum of — , to be applied by 

said Board to the Education of pious and indigent Young Men for the Gospel 
Ministry, or to the support of Christians chools within the bounds of the Presby- 
terian Church. 



When bequests are made to the Board of Education, let the foregoing form be 
observed. Legacies are often lost to the cause which the testator designs to aid, by 
a defect in the will. 

When real estate or other property is given, let it be particularly described. 



SCHOOL EXTENSION FUNDS. 

The Board of Education have now on hand three thousand dollars for the sup- 
port of parochial schools among feeble churches. They invite donations from indi- 
viduals and collections from churches to increase their school-extension fund. Large 
resources will be necessary in order to carry on with vigour this important branch 
of our operations. We trust that the churches will receive with favour this interest- 
ing and additional claim upon their benevolence; and that whilst those who have 
the means will organize, if possible, parochial schools of their own, they will also 
assist the feeble in doing the same good work. July, 1847. 



Ten thousand copies of the Report on parochial schools have been printed for 
gratuitous distribution, by v means of a special donation. A copy will be sent to 
levery minister, licentiate, and candidate for the ministry in the Presbyterian Church, 
and also to every ruling elder, as far as practicable. In most cases, copies for the 
elders will be sent in parcels, to the post-office address of the minister, who will 
please to distribute them. 




.....; .... . :.. v...... . .. .•.-.-■ ......i..... — — ...-.>■....- . vj. i... <:...•.>;■.■<» . L .»..:.y.:. : .-^. .■.-■..>..-.<■?> . 



